when the financial times book of the year is written by an organisational psychologist, i’m all ears. or in this case, all eyes. turns out, rightly so.
amy edmondson’s ‘the right kind of wrong’ dives into failure—when it’s good, when it’s bad, and when it’s bloody necessary. she also explores what you can do about it and when you just have to accept the limitations of the situation you’re in and move on.
which is such a gross oversimplification, it really doesn’t do the book justice at all.
packed with little gems of wisdom, plenty of inspirational stories, and—of course—evidence-based research to back it all up, this read is a treasure trove of tools for perspective.
it drives home the most basic points all of us need to hear regularly to stay sane: we all make mistakes. we all fail. and there’s no need to be ashamed of it—it’s how we learn. mistakes aren’t something to be hidden. on the contrary, by showcasing them, we can turn them into advantages.
building on work by some of my personal heroes—from carol dweck (who wrote ‘mindset’) to angela duckworth (who wrote ‘grit’) to brené brown (who needs no introduction)—edmondson firmly anchors her research in that knowledge space that will make you uncomfortable at first, only to set you free once you’ve reshuffled some of the assumptions and social conditioning that no longer serve you.
what stayed with me after finishing the book is this:
failure is never the end of the story. and therefore, it’s not bad. it cannot be bad because it’s the start of something else. and with that, it’s not just failure that’s hard. it’s finding the courage to try again. to not be defined by what was or what could have been, but by what you will make happen when you keep going and continue the story.
